The present study was carried out for the development of the water stress wheat cultivars with higher grain yield by studying the genetic basis of crucial morphological traits. Nine wheat genotypes were grouped into six lines and three testers and these parents were crossed line x tester fashion. Eighteen crosses including nine parents were planted in the field in randomized complete block design with three replications. Three drought tolerant varieties Chakwal-50, Chakwal-86 and Kohistan-97 were also sown to compare the results in water stress environment. Highest negative GCA effects were observed in WN-36 for plant height (-6.17) and flag leaf area (-1.53), while for peduncle length it was noted in 8126 lines (-1.15). Highest positive GCA effects were observed in WN-32 for a number of grains per spike (5.21), grain yield per plant (2.08) and for spikelet per spike (0.33), while for 8126 and WN-10 the number of tillers per plant (0.67) and spike length (0.25) was found, respectively. The crosses 9451 × WN-25, WN-36 × 8126, WN-10 × 8126 showed highest negative SCA effects for plant height (-8.06), flag leaf area (-2.89), and peduncle length (-2.05), respectively. Moreover, the cross combinations of WN-36 × WN-25, WN-32 × WN-25 and AARI-7 × 9526 showed positive SCA effects for number of tillers per plant (1.52), spike length (0.72) and number of spikelet per spike (0.84) respectively, while the interaction of WN-35 × 8126 crosses showed highest positive SCA effects for number of grains/spike (5.69) and grain yield/plant (2.75). The parental material used in this study and cross combinations obtained from these parents may be exploited in future breeding endeavors.